It would be nice indeed if there were a Hawaii guru involved.
One point, though, as noted in https://eqvista.com/resources/rsa-vs-rsu :
"Restricted stock options are very different from normal stock options. Regular stock options offer you the right to purchase a limited number of shares at a predefined price. But in this case, you do not become the owner of the shares until you have bought them. On the other hand, with restricted stocks, you own the shares from the first day they are issued.
The stocks are “restricted” as you will still have to earn them after they have been issued. A common restriction on these restricted stock include a vesting schedule, where the shares are earned over time. This type of plan incentivizes employees to stay with the company longer. And if an employee leaves the company early, the company can repurchase the stock back.
There are two main kinds of restricted stocks – Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) and Restricted Stock Awards (RSAs). Let’s first cover RSAs."
From this reading, the RSU recipient does own the stock. They won't get dividends before vesting, however, but the company may choose to pay them some equivalent amount that shows up on their W-2. (Mine did.) As those payments are not dividends in of themselves, they would not qualify for exclusion.
And, yes, in 2021 there were only 7 companies that applied and qualified for the exclusion.
